With the popularity of personal computers and broadband Internet access, home users have increasingly begun to implement computer networks in their homes and small offices. Unfortunately, home users often lack the technical expertise to implement, sustain, and maintain even simple computer networks. A home user may lack knowledge of the basic hardware components needed to provide the services desired by the user. In many cases, a home user may even lack an understanding of the types of services that are available.
Networking hardware manufacturers have attempted to address this problem by providing more user-friendly software applications to assist users in installing and configuring networking equipment. For example, a router may be sold bundled with installation utility software (e.g., a Setup Wizard) on a CD-ROM. When a user installs and executes this installation utility software, a simple graphical user interface (GUI) may be provided with pictures and/or video instructing the user on how to physically install the new piece of equipment. The software may also assist users in setting various configuration parameters for the equipment. Unfortunately, the assistance provided by this installation software typically relates to “standard” installations, and may not provide any assistance in installing or configuring a more complicated network. In addition, the installation utility may not take into account the current setup of the network in guiding the user to install the new equipment. As the amount of networking equipment and network services increase, the complexity involved with modifying the network increases as well, making the generic installation software even less helpful.
In general, a novice home user will typically require assistance with the following issues in setting up a home network. First, the user will need guidance as to the proper equipment to purchase. Second, the user will need guidance in setting up the equipment. Third, the user will need assistance with basic troubleshooting when the network does not perform as expected. Finally, the user will need assistance in making changes to the network (such as to expand or modify the network), because of the first three reasons above.
As the proliferation of home networking accelerates, users will continue to upgrade, improve, and expand their networks over periods of months and years. This generally requires that the end user maintain familiarity with the particular method used for configuring and reconfiguring each individual network component over extended periods of time. For casual home computer users, this can be overly burdensome task.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a method of assisting users to install, configure, modify, update, and manage their computer networks without the presumption of any technical knowledge on the part of the user.